Louisiana has received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help feed as many as 611,430 students during the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced.

Under the new Pandemic EBT program, families of children who normally receive free or reduced-price meals at school may get financial assistance to replace those meals. All Louisiana public school and many non-public school facilities have been closed since March 16 because of the pandemic.

Most people think of the Louisiana Fire Marshal's Office when it comes to fighting fires and rescuing burn victims from within an inferno, but Louisiana's Fire Marshal Butch Browning is today at the forefront of keeping COVID-19 from spreading like wildfire.

"This is an important addition to our testing capabilities," Williams said. "The only way to know the real impact that this virus has had, is to test as many people as possible. We actually have to expand testing if we hope to successfully avoid another significant wave of infections as we emerge from our restrictions on social distancing."